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Reference > Erinsborough News > Cheryl's Health Shock

When actress Caroline Gillmer, who plays Cheryl in Neighbours, was rushed to hospital recently, it threw the Aussie soap’s filming schedule into chaos.

Caroline, 36, was forced to abandon work when she became seriously ill. At first it was thought she’d picked up food poisoning while on a trip to Japan, but then Grundy, the company that makes Neighbours, announced she’d simply fallen victim to a ‘bad virus’.

Caroline had been to the Tokyo film festival to publicise her new movie, Hotel Sorrento. A drama about three sisters, it also stars top British actress Joan Plowright. While Caroline was away, however, Neighbours bosses were accumulating a huge backlog of scenes for her to film…

When Caroline finally returned to Australia and fell ill, therefore, they were for forced to call for stand-in actress Collette Mann, who starred in Prisoner: Cell Block H as Doreen Anderson.

“All Caroline’s scenes had been saved so she could do them when she got back,” says a TV insider in Melbourne. “So she when fell ill, Collette was asked to stand in. The younger actors were shocked when they found out they’d have to shoot about 14 of the delayed scenes over one weekend… But then Collette told them she used to film as many as 24 a day for Prisoner: Cell Block H!”

Caroline, who’s been married to her manager Tony Bartuccio for about 15 years, recently admitted that she’s keen to start a family. “I’ve always wanted kids,” she says. “Now I can hear my body clock ticking away, so I’ve got to do it soon.”

This article originally appeared in Woman's Own magazine dated 4th December 1995

Article submitted by Steve